This pretty little circa 1914 Beaux Arts, glazed terra cotta theater at 512 Broadway began its life as the “Sattler Theater”, when John Sattler of 998 Broadway retail fame hired architects Henry and William Spann back in 1914. It served most of its life as “The Broadway” and spent the last few years on the demo list.

I was very excited to learn last night that it has been rescued from extinction! A non-profit group called “Western New York Minority Media Professionals Inc.” has purchased the building for $40,000 and will invest over $1 million in its restoration. The building will become the headquarters for the organization as well as its performing arts center.

From the group’s media release:

“In 1995, the founders and incorporators Michael Quinniey, Tyrone Christopher and Tony Jones established Western New York Minority Media Professionals, a non-profit, tax exempt media organization with the mission of founding of a professional media organization committed to promoting social and educational opportunities within the Western New York community.

The goals of the corporation are to educate our community on how to improve themselves through the media, and how they can benefit from its resources and tools. We provide internships, student scholarships, mentoring workshops, training and information to all individuals, firms, associations, corporations and others to promote the purposes of the corporation.

The organization produced a professional profile show formerly called the “Western New York Magazine” which premiered on December 14, 2001 on Channel 7 WKBW-TV, the ABC affiliate. The show that began as a half hour monthly has changed its name to “UPFRONT TV MAGAZINE” and can now be seen as a 1 hour weekly program since April of 2006. In April of 2006, we created and premiered a 1 hour weekly music entertainment show called “OFFICIAL HEAT”. In the spring of 2008, we will be introducing a gospel show called “SPEAK A BLESSING”, hosted by the gospel queen herself, Pat Ragin.

All of these programs are produced with 50 high school students and 35 undergraduate and graduate students. The high school students meet on Fridays and Saturdays at Channel 7 in the conference room for 4 hours and they work on developing PSAs and program content that will change the lives of their peers. This student involvement offers them crucial hands-on educational and job training in the fields of broadcast television production, marketing and advertising.

On February 1, 2008 we purchased a theater located at 512 Broadway in the city of Buffalo, New York. This building will serve as our office space and home to our annual minorities and media hall of fame. We would welcome the opportunity to host a visit to our new site so that you can learn more about our organization. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via email at quinnieyml@aol.com.

Sincerely,

Michael Quinniey – Chairman

Tyrone Christopher – President”

What a perfect new purpose for the Sattler! Welcome to the neighborhood guys and you can always count on Broadway Fillmore Alive for getting your word out!